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For the next three years, the Queensland Blades and Queensland Scorchers hockey teams will be known as the OAMPS Queensland Blades and OAMPS Queensland Scorchers as part of an exciting new sponsorship announced by OAMPS Insurance Brokers and Hockey Queensland on Friday.

OAMPS Insurance Brokers is a leading provider of insurance broking and financial services and works with many sporting associations around the country. It has supported Hockey Queensland as its insurance broker for five years and jumped at the opportunity to increase its support of the hockey community.

The three year sponsorship will see OAMPS Insurance Brokers and Hockey Queensland working together to implement various activities that will benefit OAMPS clients and staff, as well as for hockey players throughout Queensland.

Northern Region Manager of OAMPS Insurance Brokers Scott Denning is proud to have the opportunity to support Queensland Hockey and is confident that the partnership will raise the profile of both OAMPS and hockey in Queensland.

"OAMPS is the one of Australia's leading insurance brokers and sponsor a number of sports in their push for excellence. It is great to be able to add hockey to these partnerships," Mr Denning said.

Pictured above: OAMPS Insurance Brokers' Scott Denning and Peter Smith with Hockey Queensland's Garry West-Bail, OAMPS Queensland Scorchers player Angie Lambert and OAMPS Queensland Blades player Jacob Burns at the launch of the exciting new partnership

We always suspected that she had a special place in the hearts of Queenslanders and now it's been officially confirmed. Angie Lambert was awarded the People's Choice Award for Queensland Sportwoman of the Year at the Womensport Queensland Awards on Friday 9 November.

Lambert's passion and commitment to hockey helped her to achieve the most votes in a field that included four other inspiring Queensland sportswomen - Libby Lenton (swimming), Anna Meares (cycling), Melissa Rippon (water polo) and Emma Snowsill (triathlon).

Angie has had an exceptional year. She was chosen as a member of the World Cup All-Star team in November 2006 and represented Australia in the World Cup where the Hockeyroos placed second. She was an integral part of the Australian team that won the Beijing test in August and a five test series in Japan earlier this year.

Congratulations to Angie and thank you to those members of the Queensland hockey community that took the time to vote. With your help, talented hockey players are getting the recognition they deserve.

Jacob Burns has been a member of the OAMPS Queensland Blades squad since 2004 and recently captained the Australian development team that won the Singapore International Hockey Challenge.

AHL shirt number: 5

Position: Striker

Date of birth: 23/07/87

Place of birth: Ipswich

Clubs: Hancocks (Ipswich) and Commercial (Brisbane)

Nickname: Snake

Favourite movies: Bad Boys 1 and 2

Hobbies: Playing golf and fishing

Favourite food: Chicken

Favouite hockey memory: Winning back to back premierships

Favourite quote: "No matter what happens, there will always be someone better but you will always be better than someone else"

The Queensland Blades will compete in the Australian Hockey League (AHL) in Canberra from 25 February to 9 March 2008.

Email your words of support to Jacob or any other member of the 2008 OAMPS Queensland Blades squad at oampsblades@hockeyqld.com.au.

The standard of hockey in Queensland continues to climb to new heights. During the weekend of 3 - 4 November, 16 people from Rockhampton, Maryborough, Toowoomba, Warwick, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and Brisbane attended a technical seminar at the State Hockey Centre to further develop their umpiring skills.

Attendees were able to learn from the experience and knowledge of presenters David Hogan, Mary Cockings and Sheryl Kahn. Five people were successful at attaining Level 2 qualifications, eight received Level 1 qualifications, and three new attendees passed the Level 1 theory component and are eager to complete their practical qualification.

Sharing of knowledge is key to the continual improvement of hockey throughout Queensland and Hockey Queensland thanks both the attendees and presenters at this course for striving for best practice in the sport.

The Japan National Women's Development Team traveled to Brisbane in November to compete against the Queensland U18 squad.

The team arrived in Brisbane on Thursday 22 November and played six games in the four days from Friday 23 November to Monday 26 November before flying home on Tuesday 27 November. The 18 girls and 5 staff for the Japanese team stayed at Griffith University and a Japanese resident of Brisbane interpreted for them during the visit.

The six game series provided the Queensland players with an opportunity to play against a team whose playing style varied greatly to any team most players had played before. The Japanese played an extremely quick attacking style, which entertained the spectators and provided the players with an opportunity to match their speed and skill.

All games were played with a high intensity and often came down to the last 5 to 10 minutes to see the eventual winner. They provided the girls with an opportunity to see where they need to improve both physically and in the skills area, as well as providing them with the opportunity to meet people from a different culture.

The scores for the games were:

Game 1   6-0 to Japan
Game 2   2-2
Game 3   3-3
Game 4   3-2 to Japan
Game 5   4-1 to Japan
Game 6   2-2

Christmas Truffles

100g milk chocolate
1 tablespoon (20ml) cream
200g Christmas pudding or fruit cake
50g macadamia nuts or pecans, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sherry or rum
140g milk chocolate
140g white chocolate

Place 100g milk chocolate and cream in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Alternatively, melt chocolate with cream in a small bowl in the microwave.

Crumble pudding/cake into a medium bowl and add nuts. Stir sherry or rum into chocolate mixture. Add to pudding and nuts and mix well. Cover and refrigerate mixture until firm enough to roll into balls.

Roll mixture into small balls and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Place in freezer until very cold and set. The truffle centres need to be quite firm so that they don't melt during coating.

Melt the milk and white chocolates in separate small heatproof bowls. Allow to cool slightly. Remove truffle centres from the freezer. Insert a skewer or toothpick into a ball. Holding the skewer, coat the ball in melted chocolate. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off, or use a second skewer to smooth away any excess. Return the truffle to the baking paper lined tray. Push the truffle off the skewer (we used a second skewer to do this) and smooth chocolate over the hole that remains. When all of the truffles are coated, drizzle with chocolate to decorate.

Refrigerate until chocolate is set, then store truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 22 truffles

200th game for Australia

Dean Butler will play his 200th game as a Kookaburra during the Champions Trophy tournament currently being played in Malaysia.

A proud Queenslander, Dean continues to impress as one of the nation's favourite hockey stars.

QAS Team of the Year

The Queensland Blades have been named the QAS Team of the Year for 2007.

The Queensland AHL teams have a proud history of winning this award, with the Blades taking the title four times in the past five years and the Scorchers winning it the other year.

Well done to the players and support staff for a wonderful effort this year!

Australian Veterans appointment

Rhonda Bentley, the Queensland 45+ Veteran Womens manager has been appointed manager of the Australian 45+ Veteran Womens team that will travel to New Zealand next year.

Congratulations Rhonda!

Coach of the Year Finalist

Margaret Dilger was a finalist for Coach of the Year at the recent Sports Federation of Queensland Awards.

When the Queensland U21 women's hockey team defeated WA 2-0 in the final of the Australian Championship in Adelaide on Saturday 7 July this year, it was the eighth team in eight years that was inspired to victory in a national tournament by Margaret.

Since 2000, she has guided the following teams to win national championships:
2000 - U18 women
2002 - U18 women
2003 - U18 women
2004 - U21 women
2005 - U21 women
2005 - Queensland Scorchers
2006 - U21 women
2007 - U21 women

Margaret's unwavering commitment to developing the talents and skills of young female hockey players in Queensland has delivered consistent results. Margaret is credited with identifying and mentoring some of the world's finest hockey stars, and continues to play a key role in the development of the sport in Queensland.

Well done Margaret!

Club Sign On Days

Is your club holding a sign-on day in early 2008?

Queensland Hockey Promotion may be able to assist with promotion of your event.
Email details to amanda@majorleague.com.au.

Watch hockey on FoxSports

ABN Amro WorldHockey TV magazine will screen on Fox Sports as follows:

Wed 19 Dec on FS3 at 0700
Mon 31 Dec on FS2 at 1600

The 2008 Samsung Men's Champions Trophy will screen on Fox Sports as follows:

Sun 2 Dec at 0700 and 1500
Mon 3 Dec at 0700 and 1500
Tue 4 Dec at 0730 and 2230
Wed 5 Dec at 0630 and 2230
Thu 6 Dec at 0630 and 1500
Fri 7 Dec at 0600 and 2230
Sat 8 Dec at 0630 and 1500
Sun 9 Dec at 0600 and 2230
Mon 10 Dec at 0630 and 1500

Fox Sports will show all Australian games and highlights of all other main pitch games.

Anna Smith wisdom

Anna Smith, the oldest Hockey Queensland life member at age 101, shared some wisdom with attendees at the AGM when she commented that women should stand when they speak...that way men take more notice of them! She explained that this practice is not popular with women these days but is a tradition that modern women should embrace.

WIN WIN WIN

Help Hockey Queensland to achieve our vision "to be hockey's best" by filling in the HQ hockey community survey.

Everyone that provides feedback will go into the draw to win a $100 shopping voucher or tickets to see the Hockeyroos play Great Britain at the State Hockey Centre in February.

Click here to access the form.

Olympic comeback

Talented hockey star Wendy Beattie has been named in the 2008 Queensland Scorchers squad following the announcement that she is returning to elite hockey after a year off. Wendy hopes to secure a position in the Hockeyroos on their quest for success in Beijing.

Mater Foundation partnership

Hockey Queensland has formed a partnership with the Mater Foundation that will provide members with an opportunity to make a difference in the community.

Stay tuned for more information about how your hockey club can be involved in the Mater Little Miracles Easter Appeal and the Mater Little Miracles Fun Run for Kids in June...